Wikipedia wrote:The Jesus movement was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture, or, conversely, the major hippie element within the Christian Church. Members of the movement are called Jesus people, or Jesus freaks. The movement arose on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and spread primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. The Jesus movement left a legacy of various denominations and other Christian organizations, and had an impact on both the development of the contemporary Christian right and the Christian left, as well as Jesus music, which greatly influenced contemporary Christian music. The worship services in the Jesus movement paved the way for the development of modern worship music. The movement itself helped to create various musical subgenres such as Christian rock and Christian metal.

The term Jesus freak was originally a pejorative label imposed on the group by non-Christian hippies, but members of the Jesus movement reclaimed the phrase as a positive self-identifier.

Many of this movements adherents were hippies; former drug-users, drinkers, prostitutes, and music enthusiasts.

The movement as a whole was characterized by a resurgence of brotherly love and kindness during an era in which society was being torn apart by the Vietnam War, venereal disease and other social maladies of the day.

The Jesus movement was part of what some consider to be the Fourth Great Awakening, one of the periodic shifts in religious thinking that have occurred throughout American history.

Jesus Music

Wikipedia wrote:Jesus music, known as gospel beat music in the United Kingdom, is a style of Christian music which originated on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This musical genre developed within the Jesus movement before the Christian music industry had developed.

Jesus music primarily began in southern California when hippie street musicians converted to Christianity. These musicians continued playing the same styles of music, though they infused their lyrics with a Christian message. Many bands developed out of this, and some became leaders within the Jesus movement, most notably Barry McGuire, Love Song, Second Chapter of Acts, Larry Norman, Randy Matthews, Andraé Crouch (and the Disciples), The Archers and, later, Keith Green.

American churches largely rejected these artists at the time. By 1973, Jesus music was receiving enough attention inside the mainstream media that an industry began to emerge. By the mid 1970s, the phrase "contemporary Christian music" had been coined.

Larry Norman

Wikipedia wrote:Larry David Norman (April 8, 1947 – February 24, 2008) was an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer. Norman's recordings are noted for their Christian and social subject matter, and he is often described as the "father of Christian rock music".

Larry Norman's relationship with the wider Christian church, and with the Contemporary Christian music industry, has been contentious for a number of years... His views against racism and poverty caused him to receive multiple death threats in the 1970s. A widespread ban on Norman's music, which is largely still in effect today, existed in Christian stores. This ban was due not only to Norman's social positions, but his preferred company as well. Said Norman in a separate interview: "The churches weren't going to accept me looking like a street person with long hair and faded jeans. They did not like the music I was recording. And I had no desire to preach the gospel to the converted."

When asked if his 1969 album Upon This Rock was a "Christian" album, Norman responded: "No, it was not a Christian album for those believers who wanted everything spelled out. It was more like a street fight. Commenting on Christian music in 1984, Norman said: "I'm pleased with what's happening in England and Europe...but I'm not totally thrilled about the commercialisation of Christian music in America." Two years prior to the 1984 interview, he had complained that Christian music generally meant "sloppy thinking, dishonest metaphors, and bad poetry" and stated that "I've never been able to get over the shock of how bad the lyrics are."

The Archers

Wikipedia wrote:The Archers were one of America's earliest Jesus music and Contemporary Christian music groups... They enjoyed greater longevity than most of the pioneering CCM artists... Former Maranatha! Music artist and CCM pioneer Erick Nelson defined The Archers' role in the development of contemporary Christian music as representing one-half of a convergence: traditional vocal groups like The Archers got hipper while the hippie rock groups (like the Maranatha bands) got more mellow — eventually both evinced the polished, commercial sound that would be identified as stereotypical contemporary Christian music.

Christian music industry

Wikipedia wrote:The Christian music industry is a small part of the larger music industry, that focuses on traditional Gospel music, Southern Gospel music, and Contemporary Christian music.

The majority of artists working and performing within the Christian music industry are isolated from the mainstream public, to Christian radio, magazines and record stores.

Some artists however are able to "cross over" to achieve success both within the Christian music industry and the larger, "mainstream" music industry. Crossing over has become a little easier in recent years as, through ownership changes, the largest Christian record labels have become subsidiaries of the "mainstream" labels (who are themselves owned by huge media conglomerates like Viacom and Time Warner), promoting a product to a growing market. Christian music sales now exceed those for classical, jazz, and New Age music combined.

Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Wikipedia wrote:Contemporary Christian Music (or CCM; also by its religious neutral term "inspirational music") is a genre of popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith. The term is typically used to refer to the Nashville, Tennessee-based pop, rock, and worship Christian music industry.

There is also a great deal of popular music which lyrically identifies with Christianity but is not normally considered Contemporary Christian Music. For example, many punk, hardcore, and holy hip-hop groups deal explicitly with issues of faith but are not a part of the Nashville industry (e.g., Seattle-based Tooth and Nail Records). Also, several mainstream music artists sometimes deal with Christian themes in their work, such as Creed, Lifehouse, and Switchfoot, but fall outside of the CCM genre though they may receive airplay on CCM radio stations.

Contemporary Christian music has been a topic of controversy in various ways since its beginnings in the 1960s. Some conservative Christians feel that the medium of popular music is unholy, and thus unfit for Christian participation. For example, the Christian college Bob Jones University prohibits its dormitory students from listening to CCM... Also, some simply find the concept of Christian pop/rock music to be an unusual phenomenon, since rock music has historically been associated with themes such as sexual promiscuity, rebellion, drug and alcohol use, and other topics normally considered antithetical to the teachings of Christianity. Perhaps the most well-known (and humorous) defense to this criticism is a quote from a 19th century Methodist minister Rowland Hill: "Why should the devil have all the good music?".

U2

Wikipedia wrote:[U2's] second album, October, was released in 1981 and contained overtly spiritual themes. Bono, The Edge, and Mullen had joined a Christian group in Dublin called the 'Shalom Fellowship', which led them to question the relationship between the Christian faith and the rock and roll lifestyle. Social and political commentary, often embellished with Christian religious and spiritual imagery, are a major aspect of U2's lyrical content.

Christian Rock

Wikipedia wrote:There are multiple definitions of what qualifies as a "Christian rock" band. Christian rock bands that explicitly state their beliefs and use religious imagery in their lyrics... tend to be considered a part of the contemporary Christian music (CCM) industry and play for a predominantly Christian market.

Other bands perform music influenced by their faith or containing Christian imagery, but see their audience as the general public. They may avoid specific mention of God or Jesus, or they may write more personal, cryptic, or humorous lyrics concerning their faith rather than direct praise songs. Such bands are sometimes rejected by the CCM rock scene and may specifically reject the CCM label, however many have been accepted as a part of the industry. Other bands may experiment with more abrasive musical styles, which until recently met with resistance from the CCM scene. However, beginning in the 1990s and 2000s there was much wider acceptance...

Many rock artists including Creed, Evanescence, Collective Soul, and Blessid Union of Souls do not claim to be "Christian bands", but include members who openly profess to be Christians or at times may feature Christian thought, imagery, scripture or other influences in their music. Some of these bands, like Creed, played up the spiritual content of their music and were widely considered a "Christian band" by the popular media, despite their later disavowals of the label. Some bands reject the label because they do not wish to exclusively attract Christian fans, or because they have been identified with another particular music genre, such as heavy metal or indie rock, and feel more creative kinship with members of that scene.

Many Christian bands have an explicitly evangelistic goal: they hope to use their music to attract people to their faith, though some musicians try to draw in non-Christian listeners by writing songs with an underlying Christian message.

Other bands do not necessarily call themselves Christian bands (though all the members are Christians), but have spiritual lyrics and say that their Christian faith affects their music. Bands such as Switchfoot have said they try to write music for both Christians and non-Christians alike and Evanescence, who were distributed within the Christian market on their first album although they have since announced their disassociation with the genre and removed their material from Christian musical retailers.

The aims for making Christian music vary among different artists. Some Christian artists... sing more explicit worship songs, incorporating lyrics that directly worship God.

Christian Music

Wikipedia wrote:Christian music... is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as... to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music.